Plot summary

Albert Markovski (Schwartzman) is a young man who heads the local chapter of an environmental group, the Open Spaces Coalition. Hoping to find the answers to a coincidence in his life, he contacts two existential detectives, Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Hoffman and Tomlin). These detectives offer Albert their existential philosophy and follow him, ostensibly to help him solve the coincidence. Brad Stand (Law) is an executive at the Huckabees chain of stores. He infiltrates Open Spaces and displaces Albert as the leader. Dawn Campbell (Watts) is Brad's live-in girlfriend and the face and voice of Huckabees; she appears in all of the store's commercials. Bernard and Vivian introduce Albert to Tommy Corn (Wahlberg), an obsessively anti-petroleum firefighter. Tommy is Albert's "other", a kindred spirit. Tommy undermines the Jaffes and introduces Albert to Caterine Vauban (Huppert), a former student of the Jaffes who has espoused an opposing philosophy. Through various twists, Brad and Dawn are also met and influenced by Bernard and Vivian.